Log-carriage.



No. 659,036. Patented oct. 2, |900. F'. H. MILLER & P. LARSON. Los AnmAGE.

(Application med me. 7, 1899.; (lloJlodel.) 4 Sheets-Sheet l.

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No. 659,036. Paen't'd' Dct. 2, |900. F. H. MILLER & P. LARSON.

L06 CARRIAGE.

(Applcmon med Dee. 7, 1899.)

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N0. 659.036. Patented 0.0142, |900. F. H. M|LLER..& P.,LARSON.

LOG CARRIAGE.

(Application filed Dec. 7, 1899.) (No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 3.

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. Patented Oct. 2, |900. F. H. MILLER.& P. LARSUN.

LUG CARRIAGE.

l (Application led Dec. 7, 1899.) (No Model.) 4 Sheets-ibook 4. *xxi A Vf*- ,wf D

UNITED STATES..

PATENT OFFICE.

FRED H. MILLER AND PETER LARSQN, OF CROOKS'I`ON,'MINNESOTA.

Loc-CARRIAGE.

srncrrrcA'rroN forming part of Letters'ratent- No. 659.036. dated october 2, 1900.

Application led December?, 1899. Serial No. 739,479. (No model.)

lowing to be Aa full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable oth-` ers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Our invention relates to log-carriages for sawmills, and has forits object to provide an automatic device for offsetting the logs by moving the same laterally, togetherwith certain parts which support the log at the limits of the carriages movement or as'the movement of the carriage is being reversed.

More specifically stated, our invention has for its object to provide a simple, reliable, and eiicient mechanism whereby at one limit of the carriages movement the log will be automatically moved laterally away from the saw, so that undenthe return movement of the carriage it will pass clear of and without engagement with the saw and at the other limit of the carriages movement the log-will be automatically returned or moved laterally toward the saw, so that the saw may act uponl the log under its next succeeding feed movement.

Osetting devices for log-carriages are universally employed iny connection with sawl mills involving band-saws; but they are serviceable also in sawmills employing circular saws.

By our invention we accomplishl the desired osetting movements of the log automatically and positively, regardless of the eX- tent of movement given to the log-carriage, and by these automatic and positive actions all the dangers and objections incident to the rubbing of the log against the saw under the return movements of the carriage are eliminated or avoided.

The invention consists of the novel devices and combinations of devices hereinafter described, and defined in the claims.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Figure l is a plan view with some parts broken away, showing a sawmill involving a band-saw, log-carriage, and other parts to be hereinafter noted. Fig. 2 is a View in side elevation with some parts broken away and others sectioned, showing the parts of the if in vertical section, showing a portion of the of the parts for effecting the osetting movements of the log.

Of the parts of the sawmill illustrated the numeral l indicates the floor structure, on which track-beams 2, having track-rails 3 and 4, are secured in the ordinary manner.

The numeral 5 indicates the endless bandsaw, which runs over suitable guide-wheels, a portion of one of which is indicated by the numeral 6. Theguide-wheels for the bandsaw 5 are mounted and driven in the ordinary or anysuitable manner.

The Vnumeral 7 indicates the. frame proper of the log-carriage, and the numerals 8 and 9 indicate, respectively, the axles and wheels of the log-carriage, Jthe former of which are mounted in suitable bearings on the said truck-frame, and the latter of which run over the guide-rails 3 and 4., with which they cooperate in the ordinary manner, the wheels at one side being grooved for engagement with the rails Il.

The numerals l() and 1l indicate, respectively, the block and knee devices, which are of ordinary construction, the former being mounted for movements transversely of the log-carriage in suitable guides or keepers l2 and the latter being mounted for transverse movements within the said blocks 10, which in turn serve as guides for the said knees.

The knees ll are provided with the ordinary dog devices 13, which are operated by levers IOO 14 in the ordinary manner. liy means of the dog devices 13 14 the log 1/ may be held iu the ordinary mannerandasindicated in Figs. 1, 2, and 3.

rPhe ordinary or any suitable devices for imparting the successive lateral feed movements of the log y toward the saw may be employed; but as our invention is not directed to this feature of construction such feed devices have been omitted from thedrawings.

To impart the offsetting movements to the log with the block and knee construction above indicated, it has been customary to provide the so-called blocks l() at their outer ends with laterally-spaced and depending lugs or lingers 15. (Best shown in Fig. 3.) 1n connection with these lugs 15 the log-carriage 7 was provided with a longitudinallye.\tended rock-shaft 16, mounted in suitable bearings 17 on the carriage-frame 7 and provided with cams 18, positioned to work one between the depending lugs l5 of each sliding block 10.

The construction so fai-described is old in the art, being what may be termen standard or ordinary construction, and in counection with such c` -nstruction the rock-shaft 16 has been provided with a hand-lever, (not shown, but by means of which in accordance with the old practice the offsetting movements of the log were effected by hand by a person riding on the carriage.)' Vith our invention, whereby the offsetting movements are automatically accomplished, suc'n a hand-lever is unnecessary, and hence is` not shown, although such a lever might be i employed, as it would not interfere with the automatic actions and would make the offsettingdevieesoperative eitherautomatically or by hand. The mechanism which will now be described relates to our invention.

Pivoted at cy to brackets c on transverse beams a2, carried by the carriage-frame 7, is a pair of so-called offsetting legs or levers c3. These legs or levers 0,3 are made up of telescoping sections o* and a5, the former of which are tubular and are rigidly but adjustably secured to the body portions of the said legs by nutted clam ps ct Coiled springs a7 within the tubular sections a4 yieldingly force the plunger-sections a5 downward or outward, and the tension of these springs may be varied by set-screws cts, that work with screw-threaded engagements through the upper ends of the tubular sections a4 and impinge against loose followers a, that directly engage the upper ends of the said springs. Trip heads or shoes am are pivoted to the lower ends of the pluugersections ai by bolts or pins au. These trip-heads ctw are recessed at their under side to receive friction blocks or brushes @12, that are preferably made up of closely-laid strips of leather or rubber belting held in position by set-screws cl3, working through the ends of the heads am. Each marked e" on Fig. 1.

pivot-ed offsetting leg or lever a3 works within a guide-bracket a, secured to the outer side of the carriage-frame 7 and provided at its opposite extremities with cushion-blocks a, formed, as shown, each of several strips of beltiug or similar material suitably secured together and wil hin the said brackets.

The pivoted heads am are rigidly connected by a long bar or strap al, and the Linder su rfaces of the trip blocks or brushes cl2 are preferably grooved to fit the upper surface of the track-rail 4.

Underneath the carriage-frame 7 is a bellcrank lever b, which is pivoted at its elbow directly to a bracket b on a short longitudinal timberb2, which in turn is supported from transverse timbers 7), secured to the under portion of the carriage-frame 7. The outwardly-extended arm of the bell-crank lever l) is attached by a slot-and-pin connection h4 to a small bracket b5, secured on the intermediate portion of the strap or tie-bar al". The inner arm of the bell-crank lever b is adjustably connected to the inner end of a connecting rod or link b by means of a pin, bolt, or similar device b?, adapted to be passed through any one of a series of holes hl in the said lever b. The outer end of the rod or link Z1 is pivotally connected to the free end of an arm b, which is rigidly, but preferably adjustably, secured to a rock-shaft 16 by means of a set-screw b1".

The operation of the mechanism above described will be substantially as follows: We will assume that the feed movement of the carriage is in the direction of the arrow marked ,e and that the return movement ol the salne is in the direction of the arrow With the various parts in the positions indicated in the drawings the carriage must be assumed to be running in the direction indicated by the arrow e or to be making its return movement. Under this return movement of the carriage the offsetting legs or arms c3 are thrown backward from the direction of travel by the friction blocks or brushes 0,12, which slip frictionally over the rail 4. When the carriage reaches the limit of its return movement and begins its feeding movement in the reverse direction, the friction blocks or brushes au will adhere to the rail 4 with sufficient force to cause the pivoted legs or levers (t3 to reverse their inclination or to move to the opposite sides of their vertical positions or deadcenters, and to permit such movements the plunger-sections a5 will be forced upward into the cooperating tubular sections a4 against the tension of the springs a7. 'lhe movements of the offsetting-legs a, just described, acting through the tie-bar ctw, bell-crank b, and link 196, will move the arm b9 and rockshaft 16 far enough to turn the points of the cams 18 directly downward, and this movement of the cams will, as is obvious, force the blocks l0, knees ll, and log y, held thereby, toward the saw 5. So far as the offsetting device is concerned, it. would return the outer surface of the log y only into line with the saw 5; but the devices, such as usually einployed,will` in practice give an additional movement of the knees 1l with respect to the blocks l0, as before stated. At the limit of the carriages feeding movement, or, rather, under the initial reversing movement of the carriage, the friction blocks or brushes du by their engagement with the rail 4 will cause the offsetting-levers as to be thrown back into the positions indicated in the drawings, and such movements of the levers will, through the connections already described, throw the cams back into the positions indicated in Fig. 3, thereby moving the sliding blocks l0, knees ll, and log y laterally away from the saw, so that the log under the return movement of the carriage will pass clearof the saw. Itisofcourseevidentthatwh'enthecarriage is started in the direction in which the .so-called osettinglevers 0.3 are inclined downward the friction blocks or brushes @12 will not slip, for the reason that a downward pressure will be applied to them, from which downward pressure they will not be relieved until after they have passed their dead-centers with the rail 4,0r, in other words, have been moved backward beyond their vertical positions, so that under the movement of the carriage the friction blocks or shoes a12 will be dragged over the said rail 4.

With the automatic offsetting device above described it is obvious that the log will be properly offset by the initial movement of the log-carriage in either direction and that as the carriage is adapted to be given variable movements between any two points Within the limits of the rails 3 4 it follows that the offsetting movements will be positively given to the log always at the proper times while the log is moved in one direction or the other beyond the saw.

In the modication illustrated in Fig. 6 the carriage-frame 7 is itself adapted to be moved laterally on the axles 8, and the offsetting movements of the log will in this construction be accomplished by moving the carriage-frame 7 laterally to and from the saw. To accomplish the lateral movements, a bellcrank lever-fis employed in lieu of the bellcrank lever o, previously described in connection with the construction illustrated in Figs. l to 5, inclusive. The elbow portion of this bell-crank leverfis pivoted aLf to a transverse beam f2 ot the carriage-frame 7, and the free end of the outwardly-extended arm of said leverfis attached to the bracket b5, previously described, by a slot-and-pin connection f3. The free end of the inner arm of the bell-crank lever fis shown as pronged and positioned to work between a pair of lat-erally-spaced collars f5 on the axle 8. With this construction the arrangementofthe bellcrank lever f and its connections just described should be duplicated at both ends of the carriage or at each truck-axle. When the bell-crank leverfis vibrated in the one direction or the other, it finds its fulcrum or basel ol reaction against one or the other of the collars f5 on the axle 8, and the carriageframe '7 will be moved either toward or from the face of the saw to produce the proper offsetting movements of the log.

lt will also be understood that the invention described is capable of many other modifications than those indicated or set forth within the broad scope of our invention. For instance, a single oEsetting-lever might be elnployed to automatically effect the osetting movements at the extremes of the carriages movements, although a pair of said levers or legs operating together give the best results.

What we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is as follows:

l. The combination with a log-carriage, of an automatic offsetting device, involving a pivoted and extensible leg or arm, provided at its free end with a pivoted head or shoe adapted to slide over a longitudinally-extended rail, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a log-carriage, of offsetting mechanism, involving a pair of pivoted legs or levers having spring-pressed and extensible sections, friction shoes or heads pivoted to the extensible sect-ions of said legs or levers and arranged to slide over a longitudinally-extended rail or guide, a tie bar or rod connecting said legs or levers for common pivotal movements, and connections between said connecting bar or rod and the log-operating devices, said parts operating substantially as described.

3. The combination with a log-carriage, of osetting mechanism comprising block and knee devices supporting the log on the carriage, a rock-shaft with connections for reciprocating said block and knee devices, a pair of pivoted legs or levers, having extensible spring-pressed sections, friction shoesl or heads pivoted to said extensible sections, a bar or rod tying together said shoes or heads, and connections between said bar or rod and said rock-shaft for oscillating the same, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

4. The combination with a log-carriage, of an automatic offsetting device involving a pivoted leg or arm, made up of telescoping and longitudinally-adjustable spring-pressed sections, and a friction head or shoe pivoted to the extensible section of said leg and provided with connections to the log-supporting devices, which heads or shoes are adapted to slide over a longitudinal rail, substantiallyas described.

5. The combination with a log-carriage, of automatic offsetting mechanism involving the leg or arm a3 with the telescoping sections a4 IOO IIO

and a5, the former adjust-ably secured by the In testimony whereof we aix our signabrztekets, the spring a7 within the section a4 tures in presence of two witnesses.

acting on the extensible section 0,5 and sub- FRED H MILLER ject to the set-screw as, and the friction shoe PETER ARSON or head al@ pivoted to said section a5 at au l J and provided with the friction block or brush Witnesses:

0,12 adapted to Work over one of the traok- G. A. E. FINLAYSON, rails, substantially as described. W'. E. ROWE. 

